Let us prey – peregrine falcon chicks hatch on Norwich Cathedral’s spire
by Drucilla James
credit: Andy Thompson
A live webcam link is giving a birds-eye view of a new peregrine falcon family who have made their home at Norwich Cathedral.
The cameras are recording every shuffle and squawk of four chicks which have just hatched from eggs laid in March on a nesting platform installed on the cathedral’s spire.
“This is a monumental occasion for nesting peregrines in Norwich, their second year of successful breeding in the city,” said Nigel Middleton, Conservation Officer at the Hawk and Owl Trust, which is responsible for the project.
Normally a bird of the sea cliffs, wild peregrines have been slowly moving into our cities. The Hawk and Owl Trust installed the nest platform 75 metres above street level in February 2011 to give a pair of adult peregrines who had moved into the area somewhere secure to nest.
More than a million people got hooked by the trials and tribulations of the daily life of the family last year.
To watch the latest episodes of ‘The Peregrines’, the live webcam is available at www.hawkandowl.org or on the Norwich Cathedral website www.cathedral.org.uk. There are also telescopes at the Peregrine Watch Point, set up in the Cathedral grounds by the Trust, which will be available every day until the chicks fledge at some point in July.
Another peregrine family is thriving on the spire of St John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Bath, http://upp.hawkandowl.org/bath-peregrines/peregrines-in-bath